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Narratives of Difference in Globalized Cultures pp 57–80Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Still Devouring Frida Kahlo: Psychobiography versus Postcolonial and Disability Readings

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Part of the book series: New Comparisons in World Literature ((NCWL))

Abstract

This chapter reviews texts published on Frida Kahlo over the last ten years in order to assess the simplification of Kahlo and her artistic works, drawing especially on Margaret A. Lindauer’s critique of psychobiographical approaches to Kahlo. Exposing the limitations and colonialist drives in many psychoanalytical studies of Kahlo’s paintings, this chapter considers Kahlo’s politics and the complexity of the artist’s processes. Focusing on her status as a postcolonial and disabled woman artist in Mexico, the chapter offers an engaged critique from postcolonial perspectives of the commodification of Kahlo as a globalized cultural product and the role twenty-first-century critics continue to play in fostering Orientalist interpretations of Kahlo’s art as something personal and not subversively political.

Key authors, texts, case studies or examples:

Frida Kahlo, Kahlo’s self-portraits, Margaret Lindauer (theory).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

    Zoë Brigley Thompson

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  1. Zoë Brigley Thompson
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Correspondence to Zoë Brigley Thompson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Belén Martín-Lucas

  2. University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Andrea Ruthven

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Brigley Thompson, Z. (2017). Still Devouring Frida Kahlo: Psychobiography versus Postcolonial and Disability Readings. In: Martín-Lucas, B., Ruthven, A. (eds) Narratives of Difference in Globalized Cultures. New Comparisons in World Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62133-3_4

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